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Requiem in numbers…

NewYorkCity has become, for me, a place of numbers. Who can reflect on the machinations of Gotham without ‘9’ and ’11’ quickly coming to mind. For those alive and old enough at the time, the images of the TwinTowers falling will be indelibly imprinted on the collective memory.

So, an immediate number of significance is ‘2’. The very footprints of these two subsequent icons of the imagination are now perfectly and emotionally represented in the form of two MemorialFountains…

The advent of the OneWorldObservatory in the FreedomTower raises the prominence of ‘1’ in the new landscape of the WorldTradeCentre…

But who could forget the intervening ‘0’ of GroundZero, with perimeter fences of heart-rending messages from loved ones. The site now partly accommodates the very moving 9/11MemorialMuseum…

‘2002’ rings in a new chapter of hope…

And StPaul‘sChapel provides an iconic place of sanctuary to share, or simply shed, a tear within the ubiquitous madness that is always LowerManhattan. With a reminder you are in just one part of ‘5’ Boroughs devasted by the events of that fateful day…

Until we speak again, a new vista on the world has opened up to offer a future of innumerable memories and experiences…

One thought on “Requiem in numbers…”

Never really thought about the changes downtown. I grew up in Chinatown and WTC is about a mile away. A while ago my mom was talking about all the changes since 9/11 and my reply was, ‘Yeah, it’s for security.’ But then I really thought about it when I was walking to Wall St another day. The courthouses used to be more open. My parents, their friends, my sister and I – we all used to run all over them on the weekends. Same for 1PP (the police headquarters), it wasn’t barricaded off and we used to cut through to use the stairs to get from one end to the other and I’d stare at this really cool old car in the building. I love Downtown more than anything, it was my playground and I still spend a lot of time downtown. I’m lucky the people I know that worked in the buildings were all late or didn’t go to work that day. It’s changed a lot. Wish you guys got to see St. Paul’s Chapel as a chapel. It’s so weird for me to walk in there, it was one of my favorite churches but now it doesn’t feel as soothing.